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Saturday, January 17, 2015

I'm joining in the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks blog meme and I'm already a week behind! LOL Our youngest has been teething and needed a lot of cuddling this past week or so. Now I have a little time to sneak onto the computer with both hands free to type! This week I'm sharing a little about my paternal Grandfather Charles Edward Mills. Grandpa Charles and his wife Margaret both died before I was born so unfortunately I don't know much about their lives to share.

Charles Edward Mills was born 19 November 1889 in Melancthon Township, Dufferin County, Ontario to parents Thomas Mills and Maria Grummett.

Charles was the second oldest child born to Thomas and Maria, Charles siblings were:

I was so blessed to receive a copy of a photo of Grandpa Charles Mills as a child. He looks about 2 in this?

Charles married Margaret Alice Colgan on the 25th of September 1912 in Margaret's family home. Margaret was the daughter of John James Colgan (1854-1928) and Indiana Lovica Badgerow (1866-1937).

This is a transcript of their marriage notice:

Mills - ColganThe marriage of Miss Margaret Alice Colgan, second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John J. Colgan of Flesherton, to Mr. Charles Edward Mills of Melancthon, was solemnized at high noon on Sept. 25, at the bride's home. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. H.E. Wellwood, the bride's pastor. The young couple were married under an arch, the house being prettily decorated with autumn leaves. The bride was attended by her sister, Miss Sarah, and the groom by his brother, Mr. Herman Mills. The wedding was quiet, only the immediate relatives being present. After the service a dainty wedding breakfast was served. Mr. and Mrs. Mills will reside in Melancthon, near Dundalk. The best wishes of their many friends follow them.Flesherton Advance, 3 Oct 1912, page 4

Fall has always been my favourite season. I bet the fall wedding decorations were beautiful! I so wish I could see a photo of what it looked like. I do have a wedding photo that was shared with me a few years ago by a cousin.

Photo received from Cindy Sawyer

While the photo wasn’t labelled as a wedding photo I think it is pretty obvious by the dress of Grandma Margaret! The back row left to right is Sarah Colgan, Charles Mills, Margaret (Colgan) Mills, Jack Colgan. Front row John James Colgan (father of Margaret), Jessie Colgan, MaryAnn Colgan, Davy Colgan, and Indiana (Badgerow) Colgan (Mother). The youngest child of John and Indiana Colgan, Albert was born the summer after Margaret and Charles Mills married.

Charles and Margaret farmed in Melancthon township for most of their lives before retiring and moving into the town of Dundalk.

I don't have a clear picture of what their home farm looked like but the 1921 census gives some clues. It shows that Charles and Margaret owned their own home, that it was made of wood and contained 3 rooms.I do wish the census had listed the exact lot and concession number so I could tell where that farm was!

Sunday, January 4, 2015

In my last post I shared some of my goals I would like to work on in the next 13 weeks of the Genealogy Do Over. Before I could get down to making research plans I wanted to upgrade my laptops operating system and programs. As I’ve mentioned before I use Linux my primary operating system. I had been running Bodhi Linux 2 for a few years and decided it was time for a change.

Bodhi Linux is a wonderful Linux distro, but it is built on an older version of Ubuntu. I wanted a newer version that could run the newer software versions that I wanted. So this past week I’ve been downloading and trying out a few. I decided to go with Linux Mint 17.1. So far I’m loving it!

Then I set up my Windows virtual box so I can run the few Windows programs that I use and don’t play nice with WINE. This is mainly Windows Live Writer, Family Tree Maker 2012 and RootsMagic 7. RootsMagic WILL work in WINE but I find it just works better in a Windows virtual box setup.

I set up Evernote in WINE and the Linux version of it called NixNote 2 (previously called NeverNote) as well.

I also installed a newer version of my favourite photo management software DigiKam. It is available for Linux and Windows.

I installed the newest version of GRAMPS. I’ve tried using this before and just couldn’t wrap my head around it. Actually I think it’s the only Linux program that gives me a headache. It works very different than other genealogy software I’ve used. I’m going to start a new database in this to give it a fair test. There are some things I really like about how GRAMPS handles places and reports.

I’ve installed RootsTrust a new genealogy program for Windows, Mac and Linux. It’s only in beta but I already like what I see. I also like that it’s cross platform and can also run on a flash drive.

Then I installed Evidentia I just love this program but I was still running an older version of it until I upgraded this week. I’m looking forward to trying out all the new features in this version!

Of course I’ve also been busy moving over my Thunderbird mail and FireFox profiles so that I didn’t lose any important data or settings. Dropbox is all set up and many other little programs that I find very handy. I love how easy Linux makes it to install most software and keep it updated to! I have always loved how I can update my Linux operating system and every program on it so quickly.

Now that I have everything setup the way I like it’s time to work on my new research plans!

A few weeks ago Thomas MacEntee announced a new project on the Geneabloggers site. It’s the Genealogy Do Over and wow has it gathered a lot of attention in the genealogy community! There is even a Facebook group with over 1000 members.

The basic idea behind the Genealogy Do Over is to put aside ALL of your past work, excluding original documents that you’ve ordered in the past and start fresh for 13 weeks. This includes of course starting a new genealogy database in your program of choice. Then build up a research plan and properly start adding people and sources to your new database. You can read more about the Genealogy Do Over on the website.

When I first read this, I thought NO WAY! I’ve been researching my family history for a long time, I couldn’t possibly put all that time and effort aside and just forget about it, even for just 13 weeks. I tried to ignore it, but the project kept coming up over and over again in my genealogy Feedly list. The more I thought about it I liked the idea, sort of.

I have decided that I would do a modified version, more of a go over than a do over as some on the Facebook community are calling it.

I started working on my family history when I was 12 years old. I put a lot of work into my research for about 7 years after that. I used a combination of paper family trees and a DOS version of Brothers Keeper. I did try to source things as best I could. Most of my information came from work done in the local library. They had a wonderful collection of newspaper clippings organized by family and of course census records on microfilm for the local area. Back then I at least made a note of what binder the information was coming from. Then I got married, moved, had children and I was just to busy to spend much time on my research so I took a long break.

When I started working on my family history again about 8 years ago I started to build my tree all over again starting with my paper notes. At the time I was building it on Ancestry, not long later I started to look for software program to use. I tried all the free programs I could find and the free versions of paid programs to see what I liked the best. I finally settled on RootsMagic as my main program.

Why I’m doing a Genealogy Do Over Go Over

Although I’ve always tried my best to cite sources for my family history work I’ve changed formats over time. Since my “new” tree years ago was built on Ancestry then imported into other genealogy software programs the source templates were largely simple text templates. I prefer the nice templates that RootsMagic use. I find it easy to forget to add helpful information to sources if there isn’t a field that says ADD ME!

Looking over my tree I was surprised to find close family members who I haven’t added proper sources for. I noticed that a lot have birth records cited, but no images for it. Why? Well because when I first built the tree on Ancestry when I downloaded the gedcom file it doesn’t include images. I thought I had gone back to download them, but I’ve obviously missed some.

Other branches of my family tree are very well sourced. I see no good reason to set them aside for now.

Over the years I’ve come up with a filing system on the computer that I love and a naming system for my files. I’ve posted about them before. This I’m not planning to change and I’m not going to set these files aside. After all they are all vital records and census records, named and filed the way I like them.

One thing I do want to improve on and I have mentioned in my past few New Years goals posts is keeping a research log. I have gone back and forth between using the research log in RootsMagic and using Evernote. I like both but to often forget to use either. I am getting better at it though! One thing I want to get in the habit of doing is recording negative searches by SOURCE not just under the person’s information. I think this will make it easier to know what families I’ve search for in record groups.

I want to make changes to my current workflow. I normally research, have way to many tabs open then download, name, file and transcribe the document into RootsMagic.

My biggest problem? I have genealogy ADD, I get very sidetracked by things when I’m researching. I can be reading a blog that reminds me of something I want to look for, so I open a tab and start that. Then I find a different family or possible family in that record and I’m off on that trail. But wait a minute! My original target was not accomplished! In some ways I’ve added a lot of good information to my database with this method and yes even broken down some brick walls. However I’ve also left holes, possibly missed records and just generally lost track of my original goals.

My overall goals for the Genealogy Do Over

Establish a better research plan. This will be outlining what I know about a person or family group, then outlining what I’m looking for. What sources have been used and where I need to search.

Make better use of my analysis tools to extract every bit of data from each record possible. One of the tools I’m using for this is Evidentia. I owned the older version of this wonderful software but finally upgraded to the newest version this past week. I’m looking forward to putting it to good use!

Get back in the habit of using good meta data. I use DigiKam to organize and edit most of my photos and documents. It has wonderful tools for editing meta data including image descriptions and tags. For record images I want to also add source citations to the meta data.

I want to start working back over each person in my tree to fill in missing records. I also want to make sure that I’ve transcribed each source into the person notes and source research notes.

I’m also testing out a few other genealogy programs that run on Linux my main operating system to see if I like them. I LOVE my RootsMagic and use it in a virtualbox install but I would prefer to eventually move to a program that is native to my OS. I’m currently testing out GRAMPS and RootsTrust

I don’t know if I’m going to change my main program yet or not. I LOVE RootsMagic the data flow in it is just the way I think. However it really does bug me that you can not make a person or image privet! You can mark a person as living to hide them from export but that is the only way. You also can’t mark images as private and that really does bug me. Otherwise it love the software.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

It’s that time of year again when we start to look back over what we have accomplished and what we would like to make better in the year to come. Last year I didn’t post any genealogy goals for 2014. I was expecting our 6th little baby and having a few health issues. I knew that I would have my hands full in 2014! LOL

Keep learning about DNA and try to figure out some mystery connections there.

Blog more!

I have made some progress on some of my Irish brick walls. I spent a lot of time working on my Stinson line and going through the Ontario Catholic parish records on FamilySearch a few years ago. I was sure I had finally put together the right family for my 2nd Great Grandmother Margaret Stinson. Then in 2014 I made 4 DNA matches with descendants of her sister Jane Stinson and brother William Stinson. It was wonderful to have that DNA matching as extra proof that I was on the right track.

I’ve tried to make it a habit to document my research using a research log. I’ve had mixed results with this! I have been using the research log that is part of RootsMagic and I really do like it. However I find it very frustrating that it can’t be open at the same time your working on a person. To often I find that after entering data in RootsMagic for a person, I forget or get distracted (by records or children!) to also open that research log and add it there. I’m considering going back to using Evernote as my research log. This way I can have both open at the same time to cross reference.

How have I done on getting caught up on the data entry backlog? Welllllll….. If I’ve made some progress on that, the backlog keeps growing. I have a lot of information I have saved to enter on my Colonial American lines especially.

I’ve kept trying to learn about working with DNA. In addition to the Family Finder test I was gifted a few years ago, this past summer I also tested with AncestryDNA. While I don’t think Ancestry has good tools for working with your DNA, it desperately needs a chromosome browser!! I have made some very good matches there. Some of my cousin matches at both sites have become great friends that I enjoy sharing data with.

My blogging has not been very consistent here unfortunately. I have managed to keep blogging steadily on my other blog Homestead Acres. That blog focuses more on our family’s activities, recipes and gardens. I am hoping to make more time to share here. The problem is that I spend my extra time researching and often it’s hard to find more time to write about that research! I’m going to try to join in the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks meme this year. I looked at it last December, but with a new baby coming I knew I would not be able to keep up. I’ll be sharing about my plan for that soon.

So what are my goals for 2015?

I have a lot of hopes for this coming year, but I won’t be upset if I don’t make a lot of progress. Spending time with our children always takes first place.

I want to keep working on my “brick walls”. I have a few Irish lines that stop short with their arrival in Canada. I also have some brick walls on my Crowell, Davison/Davidson and Stewart lines I would love to make more progress on.

I’m going to try to join in the 52 Ancestors meme and hope that I can make a good post each week. I would like to use this time to go over my research that I’ve already done and make sure everything is sourced properly. While doing this check new databases for additional information that may have come online since I last worked on these families.

I’m going to join in my version of the Genealogy Do Over and I’ll post more about that soon to.

I would like to expand my family DNA testing. I’ve already ordered another DNA test and hope to test a few more family members this year. Doing this will help so much with triangulating (grouping) my matches.

I would like to test out a few more genealogy programs. I’ve used RootsMagic as my main database for a long time. I LOVE the program, but there are a few things that it can’t do that I want. I also use Linux as my main operating system. Maybe it’s time to have another look at GRAMPS. Could I really leave my beloved RootsMagic? I don’t know but a few little things are starting to bug me about it.

How was your 2014? Do you have any special goals for this coming year?

Monday, October 6, 2014

Amanuensis Monday is a blogging theme created by John Newmark at the Transylvanian Dutch blog. From Genea-Bloggers "An Amanuensis is a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."

James Mills was my 2nd Great Grandfather he was born 16 April 1826 in Worlingworth, Suffolk, England. James was the son of Christopher Mills and Susanna Churchyard. James married Margaret Stinson on 21 Feb. 1851 at St. Phillip's Anglican Church in Etobicoke Township, York Co., Ontario. They later moved to Melancthon township in Dufferin County.

This is the will of James Mills who died 2 Jan. 1898. Thank you to cousin Bruce for sharing this will with me.

Pg. 1In the Surrogate court of the County of Dufferin.In the Estate James Mills. Deceased.Inventory and Valuation of the property of the said deceased.General Descriptions of Property. ValueHousehold Goods and Furniture $100.00Farming Implements etc. 200.00Horses 200.00Horned Cattle 150.00Sheep and pigs 35.00Farm Produce 150.00Real Estate being Composed of Lotsnumbers 217. 218. 219 and 223all in the First Range North East of the Toronto and Sydenham Road in the township of Melancthon. 2500.00Total $3335.00

I James Grummett of the Township of Mulmur in the County of Dufferin Labourmake oath and say that I am one of the Executors named in the last Will and Testament and Codiale thouts (?) and that the above is tothe best of my knowledge, information and believe, atrue inventory and valuation of the property of thesaid deceased at the time of this death so far as I pase at present as certain.Sworn before me at the Village of Markdalein the County of Grey this 24th day of January A.D. 1899. James Grummett (signature)Geo. B. ThomasA Cors????This affidavit is filed on back of this petition by Lecaors Hcky?. Solicitors.

Pg. 2I James Mills of the Township of Melancthonin the County of Dufferin and Provinceof Ontario make this my last will and testament as follows.To my son Christopher I Bequeath Lot 217 first Con Township of Melanchthon Containing 50 acres with the half of Lot 218 along side of it the dividingline of Lot 218 to sum up the outer of said LotChristopher partner(?) in Land sum of seventy-five acresthe said Christopher to pay to his mother in lieuof Dowel $ 18.75 yearly aucming(?) her life and alsoto pay his sister Margaret #11.25 yearly for her maintenance until her marriagethe said sums to be paid on the first day of March in each year.To my son Robert I leave Lot 219 first Con. N.E. half on of them 50 acres with the half of Lot 21825 acres summing parelled with Lot 219 __ ale75 acres to Robert the said Robert to pay to his mother $18.75 yearly in lieu of her dowellaucming her life and also to pay his sister Margaret $11.25 yearly until her marriage I also willRobert all my machinery and farming implementsand the span of horses which he uses and allthe cattle, sheep, and same on the plan he the said Robert to pay off the debts surmised expensesto and also to pay his sister Mrs. Cootes$50.00 (fifty adease) the cash three years after my death. The $18.75 $ 11.25 to be paid yearly on the 1st day of March.To my son Joseph I leave Lot 223 1st Con N.E.Township of Melancthon 50 acres he to pay $12.50 yearly to his mother in lieu of Dowes and $7.50to his sister Margaret said somes to be paidon the first day of March yearly.

Note on side of page 2:"A" This is the exhibit A referred to in the accompanied affidavits of Anthony Trudgen and John ArnoldSworn before us this 26th day of January1888. W. Mandell A Carrols

Pg. 3To my son Christopher I will the span of horseswhich he now works and the third spanof horses I wish them to be sold and theproceeds applied to paying off the debtsand I appoint James Grummett and Anthony Trugonof the Township of Proton and Melancthon to bemy Executors to this my last will and Testament. James Mills his X markSigned & sealed delivered and declaredby the said estates for his last will and testament in the presence of us bothbeing present at the same time who athis request and in his presence and inthe presence of each other have subsached our } Robt. Russellnames attesting whiteness } John Arinola

Dated at Melancthon this 20th day of April 1896

CodicilThe price of the above mentioned team to be dividedshare and share alike amongst my sonsWilliam, James, John and Charles. his James X Mills markRobt. RussellJohn Arnold }Witnesses

In the margin:"B"This is exhibit B referred to inthe acompied affidavit of John ArnoldSworn before us this 26 day of January 1895 W. Mandell A Coura(?)

Pg. 4"C"This is exhibit C referred to in the accompanied affidavit of John Arnold sworn before us this 26 day of January 1898 W Mandell A Cornicnoe(?)

Codicil No. 2I further amend this will and give to myson Christopher the small waggonand I also will that my sons ThomasEdward and Christopher Charles shall supplythe lumber which they owe me to theirmother. and place it on lot 223, 1stRange Melancthon in order to build ahouse for their mother and my son Joseph to whom I have willed this Lot shall give his mother off it on the frontone half acre of ground for said houseand I further will that my wife andmy son Joseph have the buggy whichI now have. his James X Mills markWitnessesRobt. Russell &John Arnold May 6th 1896

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music):

1) Dana Leeds on the Enthusiastic Genealogist blog asks "Did/Do Your Children Know Any of Their Great-Grandparents?"

2) I thought that would be a great Saturday Night Genealogy Fun question - so please share your response with us in a blog post of your own, in a comment on this blog post, or in a Facebook or Google+ post.

3) For extra credit, or in case the answer is "No," then please answer the question for yourself, or your parents.

1. Only our 2 oldest children knew one of their Great Grandmothers. Mary Hilda Laws (nee Anderson) 1915-2006. Our oldest would have been 3 when her Gr. Grandma passed, but she can still remember her a little. Our second oldest was about a year. They both loved going to visit "Nana” when we were able to.

3. I didn’t grow up knowing in person any of my Great Grandparents. On my fathers side both my Great Grandparents and Grandparents had died before I was born. On my maternal side, my Great Grandmother Alma “Emma” Robinson (Anderson nee Robichaud) lived across the country in New Brunswick so I didn’t get to know her very well. I do remember talking on the phone with her when I was very young and later writing to her some times. I still have a letter she sent me when I was about 10 years old! I really do wish that we lived closer so I could have gotten to know her better.

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Last January I posted that while searching for information on one of my 5th Great Grandmothers Eunice the first wife of Adam Howatt, I discovered a baptism index that showed her surname as Crossman not Buell. Eunice has been a long time brick wall for researchers, township history books for P.E.I. list her as Eunice Buell but no source has ever been given for this surname.

I’ve been corresponding with my cousin Cindy who also works on my Howatt and Gardiner family lines. We have since January been trying to find another record that would confirm that Eunice’s maiden is indeed Crossman and not Buell. Last Sat. I came home to find an email from Cindy that she had found another record confirming Eunice’s maiden name as Crossman! In addition to this thanks to Cindy I have found a great site for P.E.I. newspaper archives. More on that at the end of this post.

My cousin had found the obituary of Mary Eunice Howatt who’s baptism record I posted about last January. Mary Howatt married Edward Warren. Her obituary states that she is the second oldest daughter of Adam Howatt and that Adam was married three times. These are things that we already know, however the obituary says that his first wife was a Miss. Crossman! BINGO!

Transcribed text of Mary Warren nee Howatt obituary.

Mrs. Edward Warren, who recently passed away at the home of her son Peter, at Clifton, had reached the advanced age of 91 years. Her maiden name was Mary Howatt, and she was the second oldest daughter of the late Adam Howatt of Augustine Cove who was the father of twenty-six children, having been married three times; he died in his 93rd year. His first wife was a Miss Crossman. He was one of the pioneers of Augustine Cove. Mrs. Warren was born in Augustine Cove, and when a mere lass was taken and adopted by Joseph and Mrs. Warren of North River, where she met her husband, the late Edward Warren, who predeceased her some years. After her marriage she moved to Augustine Cove, where a family of eight was born to them-three daughters and five sons, after which they sold their farm and moved to Eel Creek, New London, where they purchased a farm and mill property. Her three daughters were married-Caroline married Thanel Wright, Grace married Benj. Webster, and Ann the late W. B. Howatt, all of whom the old lady lived to see buried. Her remains were interred in the cemetery of the Church of Scotland, at Cape Travers. Services were held at the home in Clifton by the Presbyterian minister of Kensington, and the Rev. James McDougall officiated at the grave. Mrs. Warren was consistent Christian woman, being a faithful follower of the late Rev. Donald McDonald, and one of the converts under the first revival of his ministry. She leaves to mourn four sons- Edward at Burlington, Peter at Clifton and Fred and Donald in the United States and 45 grand children and 80 great grand children. Her husband died seven years ago. She also leaves to mourn five half-brothers and two half-sisters- George, John, William, Allen, James and Phoebe and Lydia of Denver, Colorado.

Free Prince Edward Island Newspaper Archive

The past few years I’ve been doing some research on my P.E.I. and Nova Scotia families and found it frustrating how little information for these areas is online. With my cousins email about the good news finding Mary Warren Howatt’s obit. I also “discovered” this great newspaper archive for P.E.I. called Island Newspapers. I tried searching for online newspaper archives last year and couldn’t find anything. Perhaps this is a newer site?

They’ve been working to digitize the newspaper archives of P.E.I. and according to their browse section have The Guardian from 1890 to 1958 with more to come. Also the Haszard's Gazette 1851-1857. It doesn't list the Charlottetown Gazette that Mary's obit was found in so perhaps there are more newspapers added that haven't been added to the browse page yet.

This is a wonderful website and very easy to use. Newspapers can be searched by text or browed page by page. I’ve already found some other interesting articles I will be posting about soon.

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About Me

I'm a homeschooling mom of 6 children. I love the homesteading lifestyle and make video tutorials and vlogs at Homestead Acres on YouTube. I also post often on my blog Homestead Acres and Google+ page for Homestead Acres. Topics include homeschooling and homesteading life, canning, gardening, crochet, knitting and reviews of products I find helpful. I love learning and sharing with others!

I also love genealogy and have been researching my family history for 20ish years. I blog about this at Footsteps of the Past.

The main surnames I'm researching are:

Mills

Stinson

Grummett

Colgan

Badgerow

Ferrier

Kuhn

Churchyard

Laws & Lawes

Anderson & Andersson

Mört

Schuler

Hazlett & Haslett

Spitz

Puddington

Robichaud

Gallant

Gardiner

Hazard

Smith (Irish from County Tyrone)

Robinson

Gibson

Kane

Main areas of research are Ontario, New Brunswick and PEI in Canada.

Massachusetts, Michigan New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island in the USA.